SWB 8, Buffalo 7

By Pete Shapiro

SWB Designated Hitter Jack Cust led off the bottom of the 10th inning with a walk-off home run off reliever Edgar Ramirez, to snap a 7-7 tie and make winners of the SWB Yankees by a score of 8-7. RHP Jeurys Familia started for the Herd and just didn’t have it today, throwing 47 pitches (28 for strikes) in only two innings. He gave up five hits, and four earned runs while striking out one, and his ERA climbed to 4.98 on the year.

Lefty Chuck James followed Familia with three innings of one-hit ball, with four strikeouts. LHP Josh Edgin and RHP Pedro Beato combined to pitch the sixth and seventh innings, and gave up a combined three runs on three hits, and allowed SWB to tie the score at 7-7. Righty Edgar Ramirez (0-1, 3.60) came on and pitched well in the eighth and ninth with nothing across, before starting off the tenth with the game-winning gopher ball to Cust.

Herd Rumblings: Fred Lewis hit his first home run of the season in the seventh inning. The Bisons (27-21) didn’t lose any ground in the standings and remain in third place in the division, 2.5 games back of Pawtucket and one game back of Lehigh Valley. Game three of the four-game set is slated to start at 1:05 pm on Saturday. South-paw Garrett Olson (1-3, 4.24) goes for the Herd, and will be opposed by right-hander D.J. Mitchell (4-1, 3.73).

New Hampshire 9, Binghamton 3

By Joe D

The Binghamton Mets got stung bad last night as the New Hampshire Fisher Cats put a real hurting on them and beat them 9-3. Darin Gorski (2-3) got the start and simply didn’t have it tonight, lasting just 4.2 innings and allowing four runs on seven hits including a pair of longballs by Brad Glenn and Brian Van Kirk. Gorski walked three and had a wild pitch in the game and his recent string of bad starts are becoming a concern. His ERA is now at 4.63 for the season.

The B-Mets bullpen didn’t fare any better either in this one as Kevin Mulvey, Armando Rodriguez and Brad Holt failed to quell the Fisher Cats’ bats and allowed five more runs to cross the plate. Holt’s ERA now stands at 4.85 for the season.

Offensively, the B-Mets got on the board when catcher Kai Gronauer crushed a solo homerun over the left field fence, his first dinger of the season. Josh Rodriguez had three hits in the game including an RBI single in the eighth to score a red hot Matt den Dekker who got on base three times and is now batting .314.

B-Mets Buzz: All told Binghamton pitchers allowed 14 hits and walked five in this sordid affair. Matt den Dekker is batting .381 and has ten runs scored in his last ten games. Eric Campbell continues his solid season and is second in the league with a .435 OBP and leads the team with a .918 OPS. The B-Mets will send RHP Greg Peavey (3-1, 5,45) to the mound against LHP Brett Cecil (2-2, 4.00) as the series with the Fisher Cats continues Saturday night at 7:05 PM.

St. Lucie 8, Charlotte 3

By Pete Shapiro

The first place St. Lucie Mets won their third straight game Friday night, scoring five runs in the first two innings and never looking back, defeating the Charlotte Stone Crabs (TB) by a score of 8-3. Rehabbing major league pitcher Chris Young (1-0, 3.18) made the start for St. Lucie going 6.1 innings while giving up three runs on five hits and a strikeout, to earn the win.

CF Darrell Ceciliani made his return to the St. Lucie line-up on Friday. He first pulled his hamstring on April 9th while celabrating his game-winning homer. He tried to come back too early and re-injured it on April 22nd, and didn’t play again until returning to action last night. His first time up with two-outs in the bottom of the first inning he singled, and was then driven home ahead of 3B Wilmer Flores after Flores launched his eighth homer of the year, making the score 2-0.

The bottom of the second inning featured RBI singles by 1B Juan Torres and SS Wilfredo Tovar and a throwing error to bring home a third run of the inning, and make the score 5-0 after two. A single/double/single in the top of the fourth would reach Young for two runs and bring the score to 5-2. In the bottom of the fourth Juan Torres was walked, and Tovar was hit-by-a-pitch, before a fly-out would move Torres to third. He then scored on a single by 2B Robbie Shields making the score 6-2.

With two-outs and nobody on in the sixth, Young gave up a long-fly to SS Derek Dietrich, his fifth home run of the year which made the score 6-3. St. Lucie iced it in the eighth when with two-outs and nobody on, Wilfredo Tovar singled, LF Alonzo Harris then tripled him in, and Robbie Shields singled in Harris to finish off the scoring at 8-3.

Lucie Logistics: Robbie Shields had a 3-for-4 night with a walk and two RBI. Wilfredo Tovar went 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI. Taylor Whitenton pitched a scoreless inning in relief, although he did give up a hit and two walks. Adam Kolarek pitched 1.2 innings, with two walks, and two strikeouts to pick up his sixth save. At 37-11 St. Lucie is in first place in their division by a 13.0 game margin heading into weekend play. Tomorrow’s game is a 6:30 pm start with righty Albert Suarez (3-2, 4.34) going for Charlotte, and lefty Angel Cuan (3-1, 2.37) who had his start pushed back in favor of Young, throws for Lucie.

Augusta 2, Savannah 1

By Fonzie13

On a hot sticky night in Augusta, the Savannah Sand Gnats (28-19) drop their second straight one-run affair to the Augusta GreenJackets (21-25) by a score of 2-1, to drop the first two games of a four-game set for the second weekend in a row.

It was the second straight night in which Savannah scored first only to fall by surrendering the final two runs unanswered. The Gnats jumped on the board in the first inning courtesy of a sac-fly by 2B TJ Rivera before Augusta RHP Kyle Crick fanned 3B Dustin Lawley and DH Travis Taijeron to end the first.

It was a strange night for Augusta’s big RHP, the 2011 first round pick of San Francisco, Kyle Crick. He allowd hits to the first two hitters in all four innings of work but was able to work his way out of trouble, only allowing a single run in the top of the first by whiffing two batters in each of his four innings of work.

Savannah RHP Micheal Fulmer who was picked five spots ahead of Crick in last years draft, pitched four stressful innings of his own, allowing one ER on five hits, and three walks striking out four before being picked up by RHP Marcos Camerena who gave the Gnats four solid innings of work in relief, giving up one unearned run on a LF Greg Pron fielding error in the bottom of the sixth, which proved to be the winning run for Augusta. Camarena picked up his first loss of the season to fall to 2-1 with a microscopic 1.05 ERA.

Augusta’s bullpen shut down the Gnats for the second straight night. DeMondre Arnold and Derek Law held the Sand Gnats to just one hit in five scoreless innings at the back half of the game. Arnold (4-0, 3.33) retired nine of the ten Sand Gnats he faced to get his fourth win of the year all in relief. Law got his first save of the year, retiring six of the seven batters he faced with two punchouts.

Gnats Gnotes: Who’s Hot/Who’s not? Aderlin Rodriguez is killing SAL pitching in his last 10 games to a tune of a .344 avg. with three HR’s and 11 RBI’s. Little A-Rod got off to a rocky start this year but his recent hot streak has carried a struggling Sand Gnats offense. Hitting around .200 as recently as two weeks ago, Aderlin has raised his BA to .246 and now has 11 2B, 6 HR, and 33 RBI. Outfielder Travis Taijeron who carried the Sand Gnats before slowing down the last 10 games. Over his last 10 games Travis has been struggling at .171 with no HR’s, and one RBI. Travis has seen his OPS drop over .050 points in those last 10 and is now at a still solid .896 down from nearly 1.000 two weeks ago. The Sand Gnats send RHP Rafael Montero (3-2, 2.64) to the hill on Saturday night at 7:05, looking to snap a two game losing streak against Augusta GreenJackets. RHP Kevin Couture (2-2, 1.61) makes just his third start of the year having appeared in 11 games in relief.

I am currently in my third semester of college in New York City. You can find me at www.facebook.com/SatishRam or @SilverHeatMMO. Feel free to message me - I love talking about the Mets or baseball overall with anybody.

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